On Leadership - by James G March & Thierry Weil (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this series of lectures, previously unpublished in English, and here translated from a French reconstruction and interpretation by noted scholar Thierry Weil, leading organizational scholar James March uses great works of literature to explore the problems of leadership.

• Uses great works of literature to explore the problems of leadership, for example War and Peace, Othello, and Don Quixote.
  
• Presents moral dilemmas related to leadership, for example the balance between private life and public duties, and between the expression and the control of sexuality.
  
• Encourages readers to explore ideas that are sometimes subversive and unpalatable but may allow organizations to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

From the Back Cover

For over 50 years, James G. March has made a sustained and innovative contribution to the study of organizations. In his renowned course on leadership at Stanford University he explores the problems of leadership using works of great literature, such as War and Peace and Don Quixote. These essays are based on March's notes for his course lectures. The notes have been interpreted by Thierry Weil, and translated here from his original French interpretation.

March uses literature to examine a set of dilemmas related to leadership - questions concerning the balance between private life and public duties, between ingenuity and innocence, between diversity and integration, and between the expression and the control of sexuality. He encourages us to explore ideas that are sometimes subversive and unpalatable, but may allow organizations to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

Review Quotes

"One of the most refreshing, insightful and thought-provoking books on leadership. This intelligent treatment opens up many new lines of inquiry and offers many new theoretical and practical insights." John Storey, The Open University Business School

"This is a book for leaders, and for those of us who watch our leaders with appreciation, distaste, empathy, and frustration. Professor March shakes the foundations of how we think about leadership...This book will not offer you six easy steps to becoming an effective leader, but it will provoke, amuse, challenge, and irritate you. It will force you to think about leadership in ways that will destroy your innocence." Joanne Martin, Stanford University

About the Author

James G. March is Jack Steele Parker Professor of International Management Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Sociology and Education at Stanford University. He has inspired generations of students with his work in the study of organizations. His previous publications include Decisions and Organizations (1989), Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Second Edition, 1992), Organizations (Second Edition, 1993) and The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence (1998), all published by Blackwell Publishing.

Thierry Weil, a former physicist, is Professor of Technology Management at École des Mines de Paris, where he was the Dean of research and graduate studies from 1991 to 1995. He also advises companies and policy makers on the management of innovation. From 2000 to 2002, he acted as scientific advisor to the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin.